Ethics in Research

In the present journal activity report I will summarize my learning on keeping high ethical standards throughout all parts of a study in order to manage the integrity of any researcher involved, as plagiarism is a common ethical issue when conducting research.

Deciding on authorship is a complex task that requires mutual agreement from all researchers involved in a study. The following types of authorships are considered unacceptable in research: (1) Ghost authors contribute substantially to the research and writing of the study, but are not acknowledged. (2) Guest authors do not significantly contribute to the study, but are listed to help increase the chances of publication. (3) Gift authorship is co-authorship given as a gift or award to an individual who has not contributed significantly to a study. As a consequence I recommend the following criteria for best practices for deciding authorship: (1) They must contribute substantially to the study’s design, data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation. (2) They must participate in the drafting or revising of the article. (3) They must approve and accept full responsibility of the final article.

Conflicts of interest arise when a researcher’s obligations to a research project conflict with their personal interests or obligations to another person or organization, as a consequences a researcher should attempt to identify all potential conflicts of interest to other researchers in order to prevent harm or damage to the study. At the same time, find a methodology to resolve the conflicts in a transparent way.

Data management implies the results of a research study must be carefully interpreted, analysed, and presented in order to prevent allegations of research errors and fraud. In Economics there are methodologies developed in order to prevent fabrication and falsification. Some of those methodologies deal with (1) The structure of the data that is used for the research. (2) The way the researchers conducts causality in order to build a model. (3) The definition of units of measure and determination of functional for modelling, which implied resolving problems of model miss specification or over specification. (4) The adequate use of binary variables and instrumental (proxy) variables. (5) The use of the adequate methodology for problems in data: Heteroskedaticity, cointegration, unit ruts, among others.

Finally, plagiarism is an important issue in research and can severely impact a researcher’s credibility and career, as plagiarism is an act of stealing another’s work, the use of an adequate reference system is highly recommended for authors.